Last night on the CTV evening news they reported Canada's Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra will be in Victoria today to make an announcement about the cruise ship industry. It may be too late for this year for Victoria to accept cruises in 2021 but perhaps they can salvage the Canada/New England cruises out of Quebec City that take place in the fall. It would depend on the cruise ship's response to this hopefully positive announcement.
Norwegian Cruise Line filed a lawsuit against Florida Surgeon General and the head of the Florida Health Department, claiming that the state's ban on vaccine verification poses imminent substantial, irreparable harm to the company. Letting cruise ships sail with unvaccinated passengers is a recipe for disaster!
I booked my first passenger on the Majestic Princess out of Seattle to Alaska on August 15th. The precautions Princess is taking make me feel comfortable about cruising again. They are offering cruises to fully vaccinated people. You must give them proof long before the cruise. There is no masks required on board. Should you get COVID all costs of health care are taken care of by the cruise line. The ships are not sailing at full capacity so crowding shouldn't be an issue. Dining is changed but I won't even explain the changes as they are many and very well thought out. If your home country requires a COVID test 72 hours before you return home, Princess is doing them for free. They are doing everything they can to ensure cruising is safe.
Let's hope later today our Government lifts the cruise ship ban for fully vaccinated ships. I also hope they open the US/Canada border for fully vaccinated travellers. The travel industry has really taken a hit and it's time they lifted all the restrictions. COVID is not going away and we need to learn how to live with it.
If you are unvaccinated, you are the reason we will not return to normal. Look at Australia and in the US. The variants are here and unvaccinated people are getting very sick.
A great article from CBC:
